Dark Kid
by Cecily Wunge
Summary: After Bakura accidentally stumbles upon the girl of his dreams, she begins to receive death threats. Who sends them? Bakura already knows. But how can he tell her: 'It's the spirit in my head that tells me to kill'
1. Drink

Courage  
  
# CW: Yo, people! Sorry my last fanfic wasn't 2 good. It was just a practice. I still ain't got paragraphs right (I'm on MW), so please bear with me if it looks a bit long and tedious. Hope u enjoy it! #  
  
Bakura watched intently as Tristan cracked open the can, tilted back his head and threw the strong contents down his throat in a few gulps.  
  
'Tristan, I don't think you should be drinking that so fast...' he warned.  
  
'Whadda you know about it?' demanded Tristan, 'Why, I bet you never touched a drop in your life! You're practically toeteetal!'  
  
Their five friends looked up at him blankly from around the TV set, but Joey, a tall, lean and muscular blonde, took this moment of distraction to sneak several handfuls of popcorn into his mouth before doing so.  
  
'I think you'll find the word is teetotal.' Grinned Téa, a slim and athletic brown-haired girl, sipping civilly at her can.  
  
Everyone here had a drink in their hand, thought Bakura, looking around, even little Yugi.  
  
The spiky-haired, puppy-eyed half-pint sat grinning jovially and chatting to his best buddy Joey-the-Popcorn-Annihilator.  
  
Mai, a stunning blonde girl with a secret liking for Joey, was on her second can with not a hint of being worse for wear.  
  
Serenity, thank heavens, was in bed already. Bakura would have a thing or two to say if Joey's younger sister were allowed a beer.  
  
And it hadn't gone perfectly anyway.  
  
Duke Devlin, the 'Almighty (or high-and-mighty) Creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters' and all out pretty boy of the group, had purposefully picked a fight with Tristan and received a black eye in return.  
  
He was now sitting between the two girls (due to the lack of Serenity) and laughing, but every now and then, he'd shoot a dark look at his 'friend'.  
  
Bakura stared shamefully at his sallow hands, but at the same time, he felt a funny sense of pride.  
  
He hadn't given in to temptation like the others.  
  
Or so he thought.  
  
'Come on, Bakura!' Yugi turned to him, 'I think Tristan's partially right. Learn to have some fun!'  
  
Mai shoved a cold can into his hand. 'Get this down you, matey!' she grinned, in an accurate impression of Bakura's English accent.  
  
Yes, weak mortal. Drink! You'll be easier to control when your will is corrupted!  
  
Bakura sighed under the spirit's pressure.  
  
He couldn't fight.  
  
Heaven knows what the presence in his Millennium Ring could do to him if he didn't obey.  
  
Numbly, he snapped the ring pull off the top and swigged at the bitter, amber liquid.  
  
Soon he was warm and dizzy, enjoying this more than he had expected.  
  
'This is boring.' Grumbled Téa, slightly pink in the face, switching off the TV.  
  
'What can we do to pass the time, then?' asked Yugi, 'Grandpa's not back until the day after tomorrow. Pity he trusts me so much.'  
  
'I know a funny story!' exclaimed Bakura dazedly.  
  
'Go on then.' Prompted Mai.  
  
And Bakura launched into an unplanned plotless account of something he had once done that he couldn't possibly remember as his friends stared vacantly at him.  
  
'...and you could hear it at the other end of the street!' he finished, laughing.  
  
'Well, that was original.' Admitted Téa, 'You kinda started off with something about Mrs Next-door's venus flytrap plants and kinda ran smoothly into the thing about the ostrich, leaving us utterly bewildered somewhere in between.'  
  
'And then there was that about the purple turtle, you know, that you couldn't pronounce,' added Duke, 'Then some sort of gobbledygook about pixies and finally that puzzling yet amusing story about the bagpipes.'  
  
'Oh?' Bakura felt bewildered, 'Did I say that?'  
  
His head felt very strange indeed, like a sort of flooded indoor swimming pool.  
  
'Well, you sort of sang a little bit.' Said Yugi, 'The bit with the pixies. You know: 'I wish them not too loud to shout, for they will scare the pixies out?' There was much more, but I can't remember it all.'  
  
'Never heard it before in my life.' Bakura was blushing. Oh, what have you got me into, Tristan? He thought.  
  
Mai laughed. 'Oh, I remember some! 'And they will whisper 'til I'm dead, these little pixies, in my head!' Quite disturbing, huh?'  
  
'Oh, please don't laugh at me!' whimpered Bakura.  
  
'Bakura, you're just sooo wimpy!' laughed Tristan manically. Bakura could tell that Tristan was by the far the worst off in the group, 'I mean you can't handle your drink, you sing stupid songs about pixies and you whinge and whine when people laugh at you!'  
  
'I'm not wimpy!' protested Bakura, standing up, 'I assure you, tonight I'm going to do something really brave!'  
  
'Like what?' laughed Duke, 'Ask Mai for a date?'  
  
The blonde thumped him hard.  
  
'See what I mean?' he grinned.  
  
'I'm going to er... I'm going to go into the old place with the iron gate that we go past to get to school!' he announced.  
  
'Bakura, that's not brave, it's just stupid!' said Téa.  
  
'Well, I'm doing it whether you like it or not!' pouted Bakura, knowing that he, for one, would not like it at all.  
  
'Fine.' Sighed Tristan, 'Go if you want to.'  
  
'Well, I'll see you folks later!' Bakura dragged himself dizzily from his seat and wandered aimlessly out of the room, cold-shouldering the doorframe as he went.  
  
'You think he's actually going to do it?' asked Duke uneasily.  
  
'I don't think he'll get down the road without coming back and saying he's too scared.' Said Mai, sitting back, 'We shouldn't be worried.'  
  
'Well, I'm going after him.' Said Yugi, 'Just in case.'  
  
'Count me in, buddy.' Joey leapt to his feet, 'Two heads are better 'n one!'  
  
'Fine, but don't make too much racket.' Said Yugi, pulling on his jacket.  
  
'You got it.' Joey followed him obediently, 'Not a sound. Zip the kisser, absolute silence. Not a single peep will pass my lips, buddy, I assure you...'  
  
His voice faded off into the distance, as he and his best buddy left the house and wandered off in the direction of Domino High School.  
  
Bakura stood in front of the wrought iron gates, wondering vaguely how to get in.  
  
He didn't want to, but he had completely lost control of his conscience, thanks to Tristan and his beer.  
  
Giving up on the gates, he wandered around the high wall that surrounded the mansion's grounds.  
  
Thinking as quickly as he could, Bakura scrambled clumsily up a young tree that stood beside the wall.  
  
From there, he could grab the edge and haul himself on top, which he did now.  
  
Finally, his conscience managed to take over, and he decided that the top of the wall was quite far enough.  
  
Slowly and carefully, he turned to the tree and made to grab hold of its branches.  
  
But his unstable legs didn't want to hold him.  
  
With a startled cry, Bakura's feet slipped, both at the same time, and he tumbled through the air, landing hard on the grass on the inside of the wall.  
  
'Oh bugger.' He said to himself, 'This isn't looking too bright at all.'  
  
He hauled himself painfully to a sitting position. He knew he wasn't badly hurt, just dizzy.  
  
He slowly turned his head this way and that, taking in the little that could be seen of the gardens in the dark.  
  
The small, neat shrubs looked pale and skeletal in the icy moonlight, and the pruned flower-borders looked like endless black pits over which hovered the neat, delicate plants.  
  
The great Georgian manor stood some way away, leering out of the darkness, the huge white floodlights casting an eerie glow over its archaic face.  
  
But what frightened Bakura most was what was moving towards him through the sweeping grounds, away from the mansion, its shapeless form pure white beneath the starry heavens.  
  
Bakura sat, watching it, unable to drag himself up.  
  
He felt very ill. 


	2. Xatrina

Xatrina  
  
Bakura bent double, throwing up violently all over the flowerbed that he had managed to crawl into.  
  
The figure was across the huge lawn now, and all that remained between it and Bakura was a small, horizontal gravel path.  
  
With a crunch, it stepped onto the path and stood opposite the quivering boy.  
  
Slowly, Bakura gained the courage to look at its face.  
  
He lifted his head, and its stunning features struck him at once.  
  
'It' was actually a young girl, about sixteen like him. She was wearing an arresting, electric blue kimono and small sandals.  
  
Her thick, pin-straight, liquorice coloured hair gleamed with a blue-ish sheen in the pale moon, held in a perfect ponytail down to her slight waist with not a single hair out of place.  
  
Her cropped fringe hung perfectly above her huge, chocolate brown eyes, which nestled warmly in her colourless face.  
  
'Hello.' Said Bakura unable to stop himself, 'You're very nice.'  
  
'Who are you?' asked the girl urgently and quietly.  
  
'I'm...er... I'm a boy.' Said Bakura, knowing that he was at least being truthful.  
  
'Well, yeah...I kinda figured that one.' Admitted the girl, 'Although, you do look a little bit too sweet for a boy.'  
  
Bakura flushed. Well, it was better than being ugly.  
  
'How did you get there?' asked the girl quickly, as a light clicked on in the mansion.  
  
'I fell.' Said Bakura, still being truthful.  
  
'Well – what are you doing here?' the girl was getting impatient and Bakura winced with embarrassment as his mouth ran away with him again.  
  
'Sitting?'  
  
'I – know!' the girl was fighting to keep calm.  
  
'Er...if you want, I'll call the pixies to take me home again, and I won't come back! I promise!' blabbered Bakura mindlessly.  
  
'You're drunk, aren't you?' sighed the girl.  
  
'No.' said Bakura, fighting to keep the girl's face in focus.  
  
Footsteps came hurrying across the darkened grounds.  
  
'Here comes Ma.' Said the girl, 'She'll be sure to send you back to wherever it is you came from, pixies or no pixies.'  
  
The woman came to a halt on the path, staring furiously.  
  
'Trina, what is this scruffy little nobody doing sitting on my flowerbed?' She looked like an older version of the girl, only her eyes were a spooky, luminous green.  
  
Bakura recognised her immediately. She had been in a movie he'd been to see recently! He was sure. Now, what was her name..?  
  
'He's drunk, Ma.' Said the girl called Trina, 'He was walking along the wall, and he fell off.'  
  
'Vivian!' Bakura cried suddenly, 'Vivian Moncrieff!'  
  
'Yes, I know who I am.' Snapped the woman, 'But who are you?'  
  
'I'm...I'm Bakura.' Said Bakura.  
  
'Go easy on him, Ma.' Said Trina, 'I kinda like him.'  
  
Bakura stared at her.  
  
'I'm really, really sorry.' Said Bakura, raising himself to his knees. Now is the time to grovel, 'I didn't want to drink, it was my friend! He made me! I didn't want to be left out! They called me a coward!'  
  
'Ok, kiddo. Calm it.' Vivian seemed touched.  
  
'Sorry.' Said Bakura, 'I just got a bit carried away. I'll leave now. I just wanted to prove to my friends that I was brave. I wasn't actually going to go into your house or anything.'  
  
'D'you think he'll be Ok walking back, Ma?' asked Trina, 'He's a bit, er, unstable.'  
  
Bakura thought hard, but he found he couldn't even remember the way back.  
  
'Listen, I – I don't want to be any trouble,' began Bakura, wiping his mouth on the back of his sleeve, 'But I'm sort of lost. If you could just let me stay for the night, I don't care if it's even in a shed, just please!'  
  
'Please, Ma.' Repeated Trina softly, and Vivian caught her eye and nodded.  
  
Then she turned to Bakura.  
  
'The door of your bedroom will be locked.' She said, 'If you need the bathroom, there's an en-suite. Though I don't know what the papers will say if they find out.' She added tersely.  
  
Bakura laughed out loud.  
  
'Oh, thank you so much, ma'am!' he smiled, 'I swear I'll never drink anything stronger than root beer ever again!'  
  
He allowed himself to be led across the pale lawn and into his accommodation for the night.  
  
'Ugh! This ain't good.' Groaned Duke, opening his eyes painfully and peering around the room. One hand to his head, he reached out and shoved Téa from his lap.  
  
Heaven knows what she was doing there.  
  
'Come on, guys!' Joey was already bounding round the room, 'Up, up, up! Busy, busy, busy!'  
  
'How d'you do that, Joey?' mumbled Tristan, his eyes only just adjusting to the head-splitting light.  
  
'People, we've got to get Bakura!' exclaimed Yugi.  
  
'Couldn't you layabouts find him?' asked Mai lazily.  
  
'No.' said Yugi, 'We couldn't catch up with him. He could be anywhere, the state he was in. We looked around half the town! Absolutely no sign. He must be in the mansion.'  
  
'Unless he had an accident.' Suggested Téa blearily.  
  
'Oh.' Joey's pale eyebrows shot up.  
  
'We gotta find him!' said Yugi, already halfway out the door.  
  
Bakura's eyes opened to a phenomenal headache.  
  
He swung a leg out of bed, then pulled it back swiftly as the world swayed dangerously.  
  
He closed his eyes again, trying to wish himself back to sleep.  
  
But then a wave of sickness washed over him, and he leapt out of bed, hurrying to the en-suite.  
  
Returning, he heard a knock on the door.  
  
Straining to remember last night's events and exactly what he was doing here, he wandered over to open it.  
  
The girl, Trina, was standing there.  
  
Her face brought back all his misplaced memories, and he blushed and apologised sincerely.  
  
'I'm so sorry, Miss Moncrieff, I didn't mean to give you and your mother so much trouble last night. I offer you my humblest apologies.' He almost bowed, but thought better of it.  
  
'It's fine, Bakura.' She said, 'To be perfectly honest, it was quite interesting. I've never met another teenager before, you know.'  
  
Bakura swallowed.  
  
'You haven't? That's quite intriguing.'  
  
'Well, you know,' shrugged Trina, 'What with my mother being a movie star, I'm not allowed out much. You see, her agent doesn't want people to know she's got a family, or it'll make her sound old, you know?'  
  
'I understand completely.' Nodded Bakura, 'So you're home schooled, eh?'  
  
'Yup.' Grinned Trina, 'Ma wants me to be an actress like her, but-'  
  
She stopped, blushing.  
  
'Go on!' insisted Bakura, 'What would you rather be?'  
  
'I want to sing.' Said Trina quietly.  
  
'That sounds great.' Smiled Bakura, 'I hope to see you again sometime, Miss Moncrieff. MTV, perhaps?' he laughed as light-heartedly as he could. 'But I suppose I'd better be going. My friends will be worried sick.'  
  
He turned to go.  
  
'Listen,' said Trina, halting him, 'I'd like to see you again sometime. Maybe we could be friends. Maybe you could introduce me to your friends.'  
  
Bakura smiled at her. 'Sounds good.' He said, 'Well, goodbye, Miss Moncrieff. Maybe I could call tomorrow? Introduce my friends? Sorry if I'm inviting myself. Well, goodbye.'  
  
He opened the door and stepped out.  
  
'And Bakura?'  
  
He stopped again.  
  
'From now on, none of this 'Miss Moncrieff' nonsense. Call me Trina, Ok?'  
  
Bakura blushed, and turned back to her.  
  
'Trina. Is that short for something?'  
  
It was Trina's turn to blush.  
  
'Xatrina.' She said, 'With an X, not a Z.'  
  
'I've never heard that name before.' Admitted Bakura, 'Does it mean something?'  
  
'My Ma kind of, well, made it up.' She said, turning even deeper magenta.  
  
'Well, I'll be honoured to see you again sometime, Trina.' Said Bakura quickly, 'Goodbye.'  
  
He hurried out of the door, blushing like a prune. 


	3. Friends

Friends  
  
# CW: Guess what? Yeah, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or anyone or anything in this story (apart from Xatrina and Vivian), blah, blah, yadda, yadda. Bakura: Of course you don't own us! Who do you think you are, mate? Kazuki Takahashi? Joey: Ah, shut yer kisser, ya overgrown piece of - #  
  
'He's gone home!'  
  
'He's in the mansion!'  
  
'Well excuuse me, Einstein, but I say he's gone home!'  
  
'I tell you, he's in the mansion!'  
  
'Well, fine, don't listen to your conscience. I know you know you're wrong!'  
  
'I know that you think that I know that I'm wrong, but actually, I know you're wrong! You're just too scared to go in there and mess up your ponytail!'  
  
'Well look who's talking, Mr I-wear-five-gallons-of-hair-gel-every-day-just- to-impress-Serenity!'  
  
'Take that back!'  
  
As you've probably noticed, Tristan and Duke had broken into an argument just outside the grand figure of the mansion.  
  
'Hey, stop arguing guys!' Joey butted in, 'Let's just have a spitting contest instead! I just got one on that car way over there!'  
  
'Oh, the multitalented youth of the twenty-first century!' sighed Mai, rubbing her temples.  
  
'Guys, shut up!' shrieked Yugi, Téa and Serenity together, and there was silence, broken only by a faked whimper from Joey.  
  
'Look!' cried Serenity, pointing to the great oak doors.  
  
One was open, and standing in the entrance was their white-haired, pale- faced friend.  
  
'And what have you got to say for yourself, Bakura!' Téa stormed up to him, fuming. 'You had the whole lot of us worried sick since half-past midnight last night.'  
  
'Apart from me,' added Serenity, 'As I was only informed of your disappearance this morning.'  
  
'Shut up.' Snapped Téa.  
  
'I'm truly very sorry, fellows.' Bakura bowed his head, 'But before you go on, I'd like you to have almost as much pleasure as I did in meeting my new friend.'  
  
'You kiss-up. Bet she's listening.' teased Duke.  
  
'How do you know it's a she?' Bakura rounded on Duke.  
  
'Oh! Are you hiding something from us, Bakura?' giggled Mai.  
  
'No, I mean, well, it is a she!' Bakura blushed.  
  
'I knew it was a she,' began Duke, relaxing slightly, 'Because one always makes female friends when one is a boy and one is drunk out of one's skull.'  
  
'Fine.' Said Bakura, disgruntled, 'Chums, I'd like you to meet Miss Xatrina Moncrieff.'  
  
'Soon to be Mrs Bakura.' Whispered Duke, but stopped as he caught sight of the girl stepping out of the doorway, shielding her huge eyes from the winter sun, her black hair swinging about her waist.  
  
He looked from her to Serenity several times, then deflated with a small whine.  
  
'You fellows ever heard of Vivian Moncrieff?' inquired Bakura.  
  
'What? This is her daughter or something?' Tristan's eyes were wide.  
  
'Yup!' Bakura beamed, his brown eyes creasing.  
  
Yugi noticed how they were just slightly lighter that Xatrina's.  
  
In fact the pair looked almost identical in eye and complexion colour, although Xatrina may have been just slightly paler, if it was possible.  
  
Bakura turned to Xatrina and began to speak, but his adolescent voice failed him and he squeaked embarrassingly.  
  
He cleared his throat and tried again, blushing.  
  
'Maybe you'd like to join us. We could go to the arcades and the burger joint and stuff like that.'  
  
'I'm sorry, young man, but she'll do nothing of the sort.' Vivian appeared at the door, her beautiful face lined and firm.  
  
Duke and Tristan gave a simultaneous strangled gasp, and Serenity looked suspiciously from one to the other.  
  
'We've been kind to you so far.' She continued coldly, 'We took you in when you were sitting drunk as a lemming in our flowerbed. You took the liberty of inviting yourself in, and we kindly agreed to let you stay. You could have shot us in the night! And now you're asking my daughter to wander around with you and your unruly friends. And even if you're honest, she can't be seen around town. If word gets out that I have a daughter, poof goes my career. It's bad enough that you know.'  
  
I'm famous, thought Yugi, Now's the time to use it to my advantage.  
  
'Excuse me, ma'am,' began Yugi politely, 'My name is Yugi Motou. I assure you your daughter will come to no harm.'  
  
'Ah, I know you.' Vivian's expression changed for far the better, 'You're the world champ, eh? Showed that high and mighty Kaiba what for, so I hear. And Pegasus too. King of Games, aren't you?'  
  
'Sounds like you have quite a passion for duelling, Ms Moncrieff.' Noted Bakura.  
  
'Oh, I don't duel.' Laughed Vivian, 'but I love watching it.'  
  
'I'm Duke Devlin.' Added Duke hopefully.  
  
'Sorry.' Vivian smiled kindly, 'I haven't heard of you.'  
  
'I invented Dungeon Dice Monsters.' Muttered Duke, embarrassed.  
  
'Well, I see I was wrong about your friends, Bakura.' Apologised Vivian, 'At least some of them.'  
  
She swept an eye over the scruffy Wheeler siblings, Tristan and Téa, but gave an abrupt nod to Mai.  
  
Obviously she could tell who's upbringing had been 'good quality'.  
  
'And we promise we won't tell anyone who Xatrina is.' Added Bakura.  
  
'Fine.' Sighed Vivian, 'But if you're not back be nine this evening, I'm calling the cops.'  
  
'We won't let you down.' Said Bakura firmly.  
  
He grabbed Xatrina's wrist and ran off with the rest of his friends, waving goodbye to Vivian as he went.  
  
The rest of the day was insane.  
  
The gang took over the arcades, spending every last dime in their pockets on the games.  
  
In the end, they had 'dance wars', hogging the dance mat game on which Téa had defeated Johnny Steps.  
  
The final rankings were as follows:  
  
1 Téa, 2 Serenity, 3 Yugi, 4 Xatrina, 5 Bakura, 6 Mai, 7 Duke, 8 Tristan, 9 Joey.  
  
Joey refused to shut up about his embarrassing defeat until they all agreed to go to Bakura's place and watch movies.  
  
Bakura sadly made the mistake of giving Xatrina an orange soda, which, he found, made her hyper.  
  
By the time they returned to the mansion (only three minutes late), Xatrina was reeling and cackling, Bakura was glancing at her nervously, and the whole group was singing 'We are the Champions' at the tops of their voices.  
  
Bakura and his friends waved farewell to their new companion at her door, and wandered back up the street to Yugi's place, to enjoy the rest of the holiday.  
  
A figure, creeping silently up the deserted street.  
  
Stopping at the great oak doors.  
  
They fly open, unaided.  
  
He cackles to himself. He is all powerful.  
  
A huge golden pendant gleams around his throat in the blackness.  
  
He enters, still laughing.  
  
'Please stop!' cries the helpless boy, 'I don't want to hurt anyone!'  
  
Too late.  
  
You're going to have to soon. 


	4. Trouble in Paradise

Trouble in Paradise  
  
Bakura awoke, shivering.  
  
He knew what the spirit had done. He only wished he could control him.  
  
Bakura leapt out of bed, dressed hurriedly and rushed out of the house without any breakfast.  
  
He didn't marvel at the fact that it was been snowing.  
  
He already knew that.  
  
It had started at about three o'clock last night.  
  
His sneakers sank deep into the fluffy white drifts, and his new socks were soaked through.  
  
Still he ran, leaving a darkened trail through the untouched snow.  
  
Finally, he reached the great doorway of the Moncrieff place and leant against the wall, panting.  
  
He turned to knock, but the door had already opened.  
  
In the frame stood Vivian, looking almost as pale as her daughter.  
  
She wore a long, cherry red dress, which stood out from the snow like blood on linen.  
  
In her slender hand, she grasped a sheet of paper.  
  
Bakura could no longer move his toes, but still he stood, looking at her.  
  
'Hi.' Said Bakura quickly, 'I was wondering if, er, if Xatrina would like to come out and go sledding with us today.'  
  
Vivian gestured to him dumbly. He approached obediently.  
  
'What's this?' she asked quietly.  
  
Bakura read what he already knew was on the white sheet of paper:  
  
'They may have just met, But soon shall they part. One in mystery, leaves without warning. The other, a victim of broken heart.'  
  
'Sounds like a death threat to me.' Said Vivian.  
  
'Who would-' Bakura choked, 'What do you think it means?'  
  
'Who do you know who has only just met?' asked Vivian.  
  
'Well, I - ' began Bakura, 'Well, Xatrina and I maybe?'  
  
'It seems to be a threat to kill both of you.' Said Vivian matter-of- factly, folding the sheet up and pocketing it, 'Or, at least, one of you.'  
  
'Who do you think could have done that?' asked Bakura, wide eyed.  
  
'You.' Replied Vivian curtly.  
  
Bakura jumped. 'Me?'  
  
'Well, you had the means. You knew where we lived.'  
  
'No offence, ma'am,' began Bakura, 'but if I could just break in here and written that note at any time I wanted, what would have stopped me from just breaking out of the spare room and killing Xatrina when I was staying here that night?'  
  
'You were drunk.' Said Vivian.  
  
'Listen.' Said Bakura, 'I'll tell you what, I'll solve this for you. I'll prove to you that I wasn't a part of this. You know how much I want to be a friend of your daughter's - '  
  
'You just want to find an excuse to get close to her so you can kill her.' Said Vivian.  
  
'I could have done it that time when we went to town.' Pointed out Bakura.  
  
'Fine,' said Vivian, 'You solve this, and I will allow my daughter to befriend you and your companions. But if you can't – if I find out that my daughter has gone missing or has been found dead or something like that, I'll go straight to the FBI and you can solve the mystery for them.'  
  
'I'll call the other chaps over, and we can have a chat about all this, if you don't mind.' Offered Bakura politely.  
  
'All right.' Sighed Vivian submissively, 'but I want the blonde boy to take a shower first.'  
  
'Ok,' replied Bakura, 'Can I use your telephone quickly, please?'  
  
'Fine.' Said Vivian, and led Bakura into a slightly overdone chintz sitting room, and gestured to the phone, which, in total contrast to the rest of the room, was a top-of-the-range model.  
  
Bakura punched in Téa's mobile number and waited impatiently.  
  
Minutes later, the gang were arranged on the various couches, armchairs, pouffes, and in Joey's case the floor.  
  
'Sounds like the press to me.' Said Mai, 'I bet they planted that note there to start a scandal. Sounds like the tabloids, the way it's written. I mean look at it. It changes in rhythm after the first two lines! That's bad poetry, I tell you that.'  
  
'It does sound a little theatrical.' Agreed Téa, 'It would probably be scarier if they just wrote something less pretentious.'  
  
'Hey, this ain't a literature critics meeting!' interrupted Joey, 'We're solving a mystery here!'  
  
'Well, Bakura does seem like a suspect.' Admitted Yugi, nodding apologetically to his friend, 'But I don't think he'd do anything like it. Unless - '  
  
'Yes?' prompted Vivian impatiently.  
  
Bakura shot Yugi a pleading look.  
  
'Never mind.' Said Yugi, 'It isn't important.'  
  
Yugi knew how much Bakura liked Xatrina, and if he ever mentioned the spirit of the millennium puzzle, Xatrina would ever refuse to see him ever again, or just think he was a raving lunatic.  
  
'Well, maybe Bakura should talk to Xatrina. You know, alone.' Suggested Tristan.  
  
'This isn't the time, Tristan.' Snapped Téa.  
  
'Man, I was being serious!' complained Tristan.  
  
'You know, I think that may be a decent idea.' Agreed Bakura, 'After all, Ms Moncrieff and I took the subject of the note to be Xatrina and I.'  
  
'So if she dies, you're heart will break?' Duke twitched his eyebrows at Bakura.  
  
'No-one asked you.' Bakura sniffed.  
  
'Well, maybe you two should get talking.' Said Serenity, 'The less time it takes, the more time we can spend actually solving this.'  
  
'I'll call Trina down.' Said Vivian.  
  
Vivian left the room, and the friends began chattering.  
  
'Bakura, are you sure it wasn't the spirit of the millennium ring?' Yugi asked.  
  
'Of course I'm sure!' snapped Bakura, lying all the way, 'I know what he does and what he doesn't do!'  
  
'Fine.' Shrugged Yugi.  
  
Vivian soon returned, Xatrina close behind her.  
  
Bakura stood up.  
  
'Fancy a walk in the grounds, Trina?' he asked, quite self-consciously.  
  
'Ok.' Replied Xatrina, ignoring the winks and cheesy grins from Bakura's friends. 'That would be fine.'  
  
They linked arms like something out of a nineteenth century style movie and strolled out of the door.  
  
Xatrina led them out through the kitchen doors and into the snow-stifled gardens.  
  
'Bakura?' began Trina as they walked, 'It wasn't you, was it?'  
  
Bakura shook his head, knowing that every lie was leading him deeper into his own trap. 


	5. Fun, for once

Fun, for once  
  
Bakura and Xatrina sat themselves down on a bench, sheltered beneath the snow-thick branches of a tall evergreen.  
  
'Bakura, do you think it could have been one of your friends?' asked Trina after a while.  
  
'Out of the question.' Bakura barely waited till she had finished, 'You know that as well as I do, and you've only known them a few days. Of course, Tristan has his funny moments, and Joey can get a little carried away, and maybe even Duke can blow his top on the occasion, but none of them would send you death threats.'  
  
Trina nodded, understanding.  
  
'Maybe it was a servant here.' She thought, 'I mean, we've recently employed some new staff – they could be working undercover for the media or something.'  
  
Bakura nodded this time, guiltily knowing that they were all innocent.  
  
'Well, perhaps one of them was just trying their hand at some poetry.' He suggested, 'I think that we're getting a little bit paranoid. Perhaps it really is nothing.'  
  
'Hmm.' Agreed Trina, 'Maybe we should wait until tomorrow. If nothing else comes up, we'll just forget about it.'  
  
She stood up and wandered a little way down the path.  
  
Bakura smiled. She just wanted to get on with life. She'd missed out on so much of it so far.  
  
He lay back on the bench, smiling stupidly at the snow laden canopy.  
  
SWOOSH!  
  
Bakura scrambled spluttering from the pile of snow that had just collapsed upon him.  
  
Trina stood cackling, still gripping the branch she'd shaken to cause the avalanche. She'd snuck up on him!  
  
'Right you!' Bakura picked himself up, shaking the moist, white powder from his clothes.  
  
Trina shrieked and ran, and Bakura followed.  
  
They ploughed across the white lawn, Bakura gaining on Xatrina all the while.  
  
Finally he leapt for her, grabbing her around the waist in a football tackle.  
  
They both fell into the snow with a muffled thud.  
  
Trina grabbed a fistful of snow and splattered it in Bakura's face. Bakura did the same to her and soon a wild snowball fight was unleashed.  
  
A few minutes later, Bakura lay back, exhausted, in the cold snow.  
  
To his surprise, Trina lay down beside him.  
  
'You know,' she began, 'We should take pictures. It's such a nice day. I want something to remember it by.'  
  
Bakura nodded.  
  
'Yes. I'm rather fond of photography.' He admitted.  
  
'We could borrow Ma's camera.' Suggested Trina.  
  
'I'll get the other fellows out here.' Said Bakura, 'We could all have fun in the snow and take some photographs.'  
  
'Fine, but I want a picture of just you and me as well.' Insisted Trina.  
  
'You're not exactly subtle, are you?' teased Bakura. Trina slapped more snow in his face.  
  
A little while later, Joey, Yugi, Tristan, Téa, Serenity, Duke, Mai, Bakura and Xatrina were all messing about outside, each of them, to Duke's disgust especially, plastered with snow.  
  
'Everybody say cheese!' shouted Bakura.  
  
The gang froze and looked up in surprise, only to be blinded by a flash from Vivian's digital camera that Bakura now held in his icy hands.  
  
'Oooh! This is certainly one for your eighteenth birthday, Joey!' he laughed at the photograph that was now on display on the screen.  
  
'Wha'? Gimme that!' Joey snatched the camera. 'Oh, man! You are so deleting that one!'  
  
Téa, Serenity and Duke turned back to the 'snowMai' that they were making. It was actually quite skilfully built, although certain parts were slightly out of proportion ('I'm not that big there!' blushed Mai).  
  
Bakura took a shot of them laughing at the resemblance between her and it, then turned to Téa.  
  
'I've got a favour to ask of you.' He said quietly to her, 'And don't say 'why me?'. I'd like you to take a picture of Xatrina and I, without anyone else. It was her idea.' He added.  
  
'How about a couple of you guys on the bench?' Téa asked loudly.  
  
'Yeah!' laughed Duke, 'The cute couple, Bakura and Xatrina!'  
  
Sly old Téa, thought Bakura to himself, She knew Duke would come out with that.  
  
'Fine.' He sighed, 'Come on, Trina. They want a picture of us.'  
  
Trina immediately stopped laughing at the completed 'snowMai' and bounded through the snow to join him.  
  
They sat down together on the wooden bench, and Bakura blushed as Trina looped an arm round his shoulders.  
  
'Sit on his knee!' whooped Tristan, but Téa disagreed with him.  
  
'I think that's fine.' She said.  
  
'How about this?' Trina rested her head on Bakura's shoulder, and Bakura felt his cheeks flush even darker.  
  
'Aww, cute!' giggled Serenity.  
  
Bakura sensed all the eyes on him.  
  
'Come on, smile, Bakura!' laughed Yugi.  
  
Bakura smiled, and suddenly the embarrassment was in the past. Téa clicked the camera a couple of times, and they were done.  
  
'So you two are an item now, huh?' Joey nudged Bakura in the ribs.  
  
'No!' laughed Xatrina, 'He's just my best friend in the whole world!'  
  
Bakura hid his head in his sweater.  
  
They took a group photograph, having to stop twice to tell Joey to 'make nice gestures', then retired to the mansion, all shivering.  
  
That night, back home, Bakura's room was freezing. He sat alone on the window seat, watching new flecks of snow settle on the pane.  
  
He couldn't go to sleep. The spirit could take over again. He was surprised he hadn't done it when he was awake.  
  
'Of course I didn't, fool. I want you to suffer. You are weak, and yet every time I try to find a new body, my plans are thwarted. Why is this so?'  
  
'Well, I have a question for you.' Began Bakura, 'Why are you picking on Xatrina? Why are you threatening her?'  
  
'Fool boy! She is a distraction. She sparks positive emotions in you, more than your pitiful friends do. This I cannot allow, as it blocks me out. I cannot take over your body if your mind is somewhere else, can I? And besides, I want to punish you for your impudence. This is the only way I can hurt your soul. Painful, isn't it?'  
  
'Just leave her out of it. You've hurt me before! You've nearly killed me! How is this any different?'  
  
'Ah, more pain is felt in the soul than in the body.'  
  
'Just leave me alone!' hissed Bakura.  
  
'No!'  
  
Bakura cried out, trying to fight the presence that was filling him up, blotting him out. But it was too late.  
  
Out into the dark streets.  
  
Snow glittering like diamond.  
  
Again the oaken doors.  
  
Again they fly open at my will.  
  
'Not again! Please!'  
  
I will never listen.  
  
In a battle of strength, I am the victor. 


	6. Flight

Flight  
  
Xatrina smiled, her eyes closed, trying to call back the peal of bells that had sounded in her head as her dream drew to a close.  
  
But they wouldn't return.  
  
Sighing, she rose, humming tunefully with her full voice as she picked out her new designer jeans and a black silk top.  
  
She dressed, and was just about to reach for the door handle, when a speck of white caught her eye.  
  
There it was again, just like yesterday.  
  
A note on her bedside table.  
  
She unfolded it carefully, and read:  
  
'Youth, still glowing in its prime, Soon to be unduly extinguished, You have known a lot, too much to be exact. That is your crime, and consequently, I shall deal punishment.'  
  
More threats, more direct this time. It didn't rhyme either.  
  
She took up her phone, dialling Bakura's number quickly.  
  
He had given it to her yesterday.  
  
She waited. Waited. Waited.  
  
Each ring was a stab at her heart. She looked at her watch. Eight in the morning. Surely he would be in.  
  
Even if he was asleep, the phone would surely wake him.  
  
Finally, she gave up, placing the receiver down gently.  
  
Then she took it up again, dialling Téa's mobile number.  
  
Thankfully, she picked up.  
  
'Wharrisit?' a groan on the other end of the line, 'It's, like, sunrise!'  
  
'It's Xatrina.' Said Xatrina, 'I got another note. Do you know where Bakura is? Only I called him and he wasn't in.'  
  
'Maybe we should go over.' Téa was starting to sound more awake, 'He might just be a heavy sleeper.'  
  
'Great. See you there.' Xatrina slammed down the phone, grabbed her coat and ran through the house to the front door.  
  
Hurriedly, she left the building, shutting the door quietly behind her.  
  
She rushed along the road, turned down the main street and hurtled down the small lane that led to Bakura's place.  
  
She almost collided with Téa, who arrived at almost exactly the same time.  
  
'Look.' Téa pointed to the door. Wedged between the wood and the frame, a piece of white paper flapped in the breeze.  
  
'He got one too!' she gasped.  
  
Xatrina wandered over and took it from the frame.  
  
'No, it's from him.' She said, reading it slowly.  
  
Bakura's usually neat handwriting was scrawled clumsily across the page.  
  
It was as if Bakura had known she would find it first. It read:  
  
Xatrina, I'm sorry. I'll miss you. Tell the other chaps they're the best. Most love, Your best friend in the whole wide world, Bakura.  
  
'But-' she choked, 'It sounds like he's...he's...'  
  
She burst into tears, and Téa hugged her tightly, taking the letter gently and reading it for herself.  
  
'No. He can't have. Why would he? He did it, didn't he? He sent you the notes! That must have been it!'  
  
'I don't care.' Sobbed Xatrina, 'It doesn't matter, now that he's...why would he do that to himself?'  
  
'Maybe we should search the house.' Said Téa.  
  
'I don't want to see-'  
  
'It's Ok,' said Téa nervously, 'I'll do it myself.'  
  
She turned the handle gently. It was open, to her surprise.  
  
Xatrina waited for a while, then ran in after her. Téa couldn't find him first! He was Xatrina's best friend!  
  
Téa stood in the doorway to his living room, staring at the television.  
  
Xatrina pushed past her, her face still tear stained, and looked.  
  
There was another note on the TV.  
  
She could read it from here.  
  
It said:  
  
Don't you worry. I haven't gone. Just forget.  
  
'He's not dead!' laughed Xatrina, 'That's what it means, I'm sure! But...'Just forget'? What does that mean?'  
  
'I think I know what's going on.' Said Téa. 'Sit down. I'll tell you.'  
  
Xatrina sat down on her best friend's couch, and Téa sat next to her.  
  
Téa told her everything she knew.  
  
The millennium items, Yugi and Marik, Ishizu, Shadi, Pegasus, Bakura, Ancient Egypt, Duel Monsters, Duellist Kingdom, Battle City, magic, the shadow realm, the spirit of the millennium ring, Yami, good and evil.  
  
'Ok.' Xatrina felt like she had been holding her breath the whole time Téa had been talking, 'So the spirit in Bakura's millennium...necklace thing has been sending me these notes, and now Bakura is scared he'll hurt me, so he's run away.'  
  
'Yeah.' Said Téa, 'Well, partly, Bakura's got the millennium ring. Ishizu's got the millennium necklace.'  
  
'Don't get me wrong, I do believe you, but what if Yugi and Bakura are both just schizophrenic or something?'  
  
'Believe me, they aren't.' said Téa, 'Yami's got real power, and Bakura's spirit took us all to the shadow realm once.'  
  
'Ok.' Replied Xatrina, 'But this still means Bakura's gone, doesn't it?'  
  
'Yeah.' Sighed Téa.  
  
'Isn't there anyone you know who can find him again?' asked Xatrina desperately.  
  
'Yes. Two people.' Said Téa, a sparkle igniting in her deep, ocean-blue eyes.  
  
'Who?' asked Xatrina.  
  
'You'll see.' Replied Téa. 


	7. Help

Help  
  
# Joey: Man! How much longer is this story gonna go on for? I is gettin' bored here! CW: Look, I'll try to make it more interesting, Ok? Joey: Fine by me, just don't get me pushed off some high place again, got it? #  
  
Seto Kaiba swung deliberately in his computer chair. He faced the gang with a familiar smirk on his face.  
  
'And when I woke up, I thought this might be a good day for me.' He growled, 'Please allow me to introduce you to the exit, before I call security to introduce you to some painful weapon or other.'  
  
'Is he always like this?' Xatrina asked Joey quietly.  
  
'Trust me, I never seen him this full o' happiness and laughter.' Replied Joey.  
  
'Please, Kaiba.' Begged Téa, 'We really need your help. Bakura's missing. We thought you could help us find him.'  
  
'Bakura, huh?' Kaiba's eyes twinkled with power, 'He's the scrawny one with the white hair and the millennium ring, huh? To tell the truth, I think we're better off. Why would I wanna help you dorks find him?'  
  
'Because you've still got a bit of human left in you!' Xatrina pushed her way to Kaiba's chair, looking straight into his icy blue eyes. 'Because you know you need to get a life!'  
  
'Thank you for showing such concern, but I already have a particularly good life, or I would, if only you'd get out of it!' spat Kaiba.  
  
'Creep.' Grunted Tristan.  
  
'If you don't help us, no-one's gonna help you!' growled Joey, rolling up his sleeves.  
  
Kaiba rolled his eyes lazily.  
  
'So, here we have a scrounging puppy, a little dancer, the puppy's sister, a guy who's too dumb to put a sentence together, a spoilt blonde, a hopeless pretty-boy and a kid who seems to be Bakura's future wife,' He sneered, 'And, of course, our own little duelling monarch, Yugi. You want my help? Sorry, I am busy.'  
  
Joey ran at Kaiba, but Xatrina got there first, punching him hard in the forehead.  
  
Kaiba's head jerked back and he cried out in surprise.  
  
A little skinny kid with long, unruly black hair burst in through the door. Mokuba Kaiba, Seto's younger brother.  
  
'What are you doing to my brother?' he demanded fiercely.  
  
'Giving him what he deserves.' Spat Xatrina.  
  
'You know, I honestly thought I could trust you guys.' Mokuba's eyes suddenly filled with tears, 'But now...'  
  
Xatrina stared at her feet.  
  
'I'm sorry, kid.' She said, 'I just, well, I'm desperate for help. My best friend is gone, maybe forever, and I wanted your brother's help. He had other things to do. I accept that now. I just got a bit carried away.'  
  
'Your best friend?' Mokuba looked up at her.  
  
'You might know him. His name is Bakura.'  
  
Mokuba raised his dark eyebrows.  
  
'Ignore her, Mokuba.' Said Kaiba, rubbing his neck, 'She's not worth the time, and besides, she punches like a rag doll.'  
  
'Oh? Want me to try again?' threatened Xatrina.  
  
'Very funny.' Said Kaiba.  
  
'Seto-' Mokuba began nervously, 'I know you're probably not too keen on her right now, but I'd really like to help her. Please?'  
  
'This is the strangest request you have ever made, Mokuba, including the one about the tooth fairy.' Said Kaiba, 'I would have thought you would refuse to listen to a girl who has just hit your brother, not beg me to help her!'  
  
Mokuba just looked at him. It was amazing what the power of unblemished cuteness could do.  
  
'Fine,' sighed Kaiba, 'But this is the last time I will help anyone to do with you, Yugi. Got it?'  
  
'Of course, Kaiba.' Yami nodded at his rival with respect. He'd already agreed to help when Téa asked him. That was what friends were for.  
  
Bakura curled beneath the overhanging rock on the hillside. The stream gurgled from underneath a film of ice beside him. With nothing else to do, he reached into his pack and brought out his book.  
  
A few pages on, he tired of it, and stowed it away again.  
  
Well, he jolly well wasn't going to stay here the rest of his life!  
  
He'd had his rest. Now he would keep on walking East, towards heaven knows where. This certainly was silly. But he couldn't go back.  
  
That would put all that he held dear at risk.  
  
He scrambled out of the little niche and continued his slippery way up the hill.  
  
At the top, he'd be able to catch his last glance of Domino City, of the High School, of the houses of his friends, of his own house.  
  
And of the Moncrieffs' mansion.  
  
He wondered if they knew he was gone yet.  
  
And of course, he'd be able to get his bearings and figure out where he should be going.  
  
Maybe soon, he could find a way to make enough money to return to his relatives in England.  
  
He would just have to wait and see. 


	8. For better

For better  
  
'Go back!'  
  
'I shan't! It's not fair on the others!'  
  
'I order you to go back!'  
  
'You can't make me. Not any more.'  
  
'Oh, yes I can!'  
  
'Well, maybe you can, but think about it. The further I am from Xatrina, the further I am from 'powerful positive emotions' or whatever you call it.'  
  
The spirit was silent for a moment, then:  
  
'I must admit that you may be correct, which gives me great displeasure.'  
  
'Good. Perhaps now we can keep going.'  
  
Bakura stepped out of the semi-paralysis the spirit had brought him into, and continued along the ridge of the hill.  
  
The sounds of the city were growing fainter by the moment, and the chill of the oncoming countryside began to break in.  
  
'Wait.'  
  
Bakura rolled his eyes, but stopped.  
  
'There are several millennium items in Domino City that are not in my possession. And then there are the Egyptian God Cards.'  
  
'Oh, here we go again.'  
  
'You must turn back.'  
  
'Certainly not!'  
  
Feeling stronger than ever, Bakura broke out once more and kept going. The webs of frost crackled beneath his snow-drenched sneakers, and he began to shiver.  
  
He couldn't stop now.  
  
Vivian had printed out the pictures.  
  
Xatrina flicked through them.  
  
There was Joey, sneaking up on Mai with a fistful of snow, Duke, Tristan, Joey, Mai, Trina and Yugi in a frenzied snowball fight, the beginning of the construction of the 'snowMai', the group laughing at the finished creation, Téa, Yugi and Serenity making snow angles, Duke acting like an idiot holding two snowballs up in front of his eyes, Téa turning a cartwheel...  
  
Xatrina stopped. She held the next photograph close to her face, so she could see every detail.  
  
It was the one with her and Bakura on the bench.  
  
She smiled sadly. They both looked so happy.  
  
And now he was gone...  
  
She threw the sheets aside, not even glancing at the last two (the group photo and the friends enjoying hot chocolate by the fire), stood up and wandered across to the window, her throat like sandpaper.  
  
'We'll find him, don't you worry, hon.' Mai was sitting on the couch, at the back of the room. 'You really liked him, huh?'  
  
'Yeah.' Said Xatrina, 'And I'm not ashamed at all. Not like you and Joey.'  
  
Mai spluttered.  
  
'Wha'? Joey? That little dork? Well excuse me, if I liked him, I'd have a reason to be ashamed.'  
  
'Oh, come on, Mai!' smiled Trina, 'It's obvious!'  
  
'Maybe to you!' grinned Mai, and they said no more about it, although Xatrina did nudge Mai under the table at lunch time, when Joey offered to go and make her a coffee.  
  
Xatrina, Joey and Mai were the only members of the group still in the mansion. The others were at Kaiba's, attempting to use his duel disk tracking system to find Bakura's disk.  
  
Xatrina was ashamed. She should be out looking for Bakura, not here playing charades with two friends, which was just what they did that afternoon.  
  
'The Incredible Hulk?' Mai was getting incredibly bored with this game,  
  
'Tall? Stupid?'  
  
Joey nodded, thumbs up. Then he made a shape with his hands at the back of his head.  
  
'Stabbed in the head? Hair?' Mai yawned.  
  
'Ponytail?' suggested Trina.  
  
Joey nodded again and held up four fingers.  
  
'Well that's easy.' Shrugged Mai, 'Four.'  
  
Then Joey made a grabbing movement.  
  
'Grab? Steal? Get?' Xatrina was guessing away.  
  
Joey nodded again, then mimed opening something and counting several small things.  
  
'Money?' suggested Mai, 'Purse? Wallet?'  
  
Thumbs up again.  
  
'Ok, so we've got 'Stupid ponytail four get wallet.' Like that makes sense.' Grumbled Mai.  
  
Joey smacked himself on the forehead. 'You guys are so dumb!' he complained.  
  
'I got it!' said Xatrina, 'He means Duke's forgotten his wallet.'  
  
'Yup!' grinned Joey, pulling the leather pouch out of his pocket.  
  
'Well, we'd better take it to him, huh?' said Mai, getting up from her seat and pulling on her purple designer jacket.  
  
'Yeah, any excuse to quit this stupid game!' added Joey, following her out.  
  
'There's no doubt about it – the computer says he's still at home.' Kaiba leant back lazily, a mug of coffee in his hand.  
  
'But we checked there!' persisted Téa, 'Zoom in again. Maybe we can find out where exactly he is in his house.'  
  
'No need.' Kaiba tapped a word into his laptop and sat back. Some text flickered across the screen.  
  
It read Ground floor, extreme bottom left.  
  
Téa peered at the map that was on display on the monitor.  
  
'But that's the sitting room.' Said Téa, 'Trina and I searched there.'  
  
'I remember now.' The others spun round to find Trina standing behind them, 'He left his duel disk. It was on a cushion on the couch, remember?'  
  
'Well, there's that plan down the john.' Sighed Tristan.  
  
'For once, you can say that again,' agreed Duke.  
  
'Has Yami figured how to track down a millennium item yet?' asked Serenity.  
  
'Er...guys?' Joey called from the entrance hall of KaibaCorp's office block, 'Slight problem here!'  
  
Everyone except Kaiba and Mokuba left the room and rushed downstairs.  
  
Joey and Mai stood there, pointing outside.  
  
Yami sat stock still on the sidewalk, attracting nervous glances from passers-by. He was cross-legged and his eyes were tightly closed.  
  
'Can someone tell him to come in here?' said Mai, 'He's an embarrassment to the name of Pharaoh!'  
  
'Yo! Yug, ma man!' Joey strode up to his best buddy, 'I think you better quit that now.'  
  
Yami's eyes snapped open.  
  
'He's cold.' He announced, 'Very cold. He's walking and he doesn't want to stop. I think he's talking to the spirit.'  
  
'Ok, just tell us inside.' Mai looked incredibly embarrassed.  
  
'Fine. That was the only way I could concentrate without being interrupted by you simpletons.' Grumbled Yami.  
  
Once inside, Yami told them exactly where he had sensed Bakura.  
  
'In the hills!' gasped Serenity, 'He's mad! He'll die of hypothermia or something!'  
  
'We gotta find him!' Xatrina had pulled on her coat again, and was already halfway out the door.  
  
'Wait!' Mokuba piped up, 'We agreed to help, so we will. Seto, call out the chopper!'  
  
'Oh, brother.' Grumbled Kaiba, but pressed the silver KaibaCorp symbol on his lapel and muttered a few words into the tiny communicating device.  
  
Minutes later, the great machine landed outside and the group piled in. The propellers whirred and Kaiba snapped a pair of headphones over his ears.  
  
They were on their way. 


	9. For worse

For worse  
  
# CW: Well, it'd be pretty damn boring if it ended on this chapter. I seriously need a new minor plot to keep it going! Yami: Or you could try giving me a little personality for once. #  
  
Bakura hummed to himself, for the mere relief of a sound.  
  
But this sound only brought back unwanted memories.  
  
He had never heard Xatrina sing.  
  
He never would.  
  
She wanted to sing for a career.  
  
She probably would. And he, Bakura, would not be there to hear.  
  
Or maybe, he thought in horror, he would hear her. On the radio. On television.  
  
'You were just listening to the amazing debut single of Trina Moncrieff.' Blared his radio of the future, 'This song will be available in the shops from this Friday.'  
  
And he'd be sitting there, alone at home, reminiscing cheerlessly of the short time he had spent with this siren of a superstar.  
  
He bit his swollen lower lip. It was purpling with the cold.  
  
Flecks of snow stuck fast to his long, unruly hair, and the hems of his jeans were stiff with frost.  
  
'I told you we should have turned back.'  
  
'Go away!' Bakura threw himself into the heaping snow and lay there, face down, sobbing.  
  
He felt like Gollum in Lord of the Rings. There was evil inside him, and he couldn't chase it away. And no one cared.  
  
Yugi? Joey? Tristan? Téa? Duke? They were peers, classmates, not friends.  
  
Mai? Serenity? They were friends of his classmates.  
  
Xatrina? He had been the first teenager she had ever met.  
  
Given the time to get to know him, she'd go off with Téa or someone.  
  
He didn't matter.  
  
He had no one, no one but this, this creature inside him, taking over him, killing, breaking, destroying, cursing.  
  
He was cursed. No, worse, he was a curse.  
  
'Tristan should have let him take Mokuba's body when he had the chance.' Wept Bakura, but stopped. That was wrong.  
  
Maybe Tristan didn't care, but he would never step back and watch the spirit take over Mokuba. But then, how could he leave the spirit in Bakura? Of course, he didn't care.  
  
'That's right, feeble minded boy.'  
  
'You're right. I am.'  
  
'You're alone.'  
  
'Yes.'  
  
'All alone.'  
  
The wind was bitter up here.  
  
They could feel it through the chopper's insulated leather seats, which Joey soon expressed.  
  
'Man, my butt's freezin' off!' he complained loudly.  
  
'Well, that certainly is a shame.' Smirked Kaiba, 'Soon you'll have to start talking through your mouth.'  
  
'You keep talkin', Kaiba, and you'll have neither!' threatened Joey.  
  
They were interrupted by a horrified shriek from Xatrina.  
  
Looking down, they saw a trail of dark prints through the unblemished snow along the ridge of hills.  
  
At the end of the long, winding line of marks, by one solitary skeletal tree, in a dip surrounded by huge standing stones placed by miners of years gone by, lay a white haired boy, face down in the pearly snow.  
  
'He's not moving!' panicked Duke, and Téa hit him hard.  
  
'Seto! Land now!' cried Mokuba, and Seto let the chopper drop.  
  
Painfully slowly, they touched down into the deep snow, and Xatrina was out like a shot.  
  
She skidded on her knees beside her best friend's motionless form, and dumbly shook his left shoulder.  
  
It was hard and freezing, but he lifted his head slowly, as if waking.  
  
'Trina!' he gasped, his face lined with frozen tears, 'No! Go away! I can't see you again! Never!'  
  
'Please,' said Trina, 'You're wonderful. You can't just stay here to die.'  
  
'I'd much prefer it!' burst out Bakura.  
  
The rest of the group, including Mokuba and Kaiba, were surrounding the pair now.  
  
Xatrina leant down and hugged Bakura tightly, but he pushed her away into the snow. And this time, it wasn't for a laugh.  
  
'Leave me alone!' he stood up shakily, 'I don't want you to ever see me again. You may not care for me, but I certainly care for all of you chaps.'  
  
'But Bakura, we do...' began Yugi.  
  
'GO AWAY!' Bakura roared, and his millennium ring trembled and glowed around his neck.  
  
He threw his arms out, and rings of energy, like powerful ripples from the blast of a bomb, pulsed from the ring.  
  
The effect was devastating.  
  
The whole circle of people were actually blown backwards, as if by a mighty gale, taking to the air like ungainly birds.  
  
Bakura was thrown back too, striking his head on the hard icy ground. He lay motionless again, while the ring worked its evil.  
  
Duke was the first to suffer, smashing his shoulder hard against one of the standing stones.  
  
He whimpered, and sunk to the ground, still pressed to the rock by the force.  
  
Then Serenity, skidding along a particularly stony piece of ground and gashing her legs.  
  
Kaiba, too, was turned round in mid air and thrown against a limb of the single tree, which struck him across the stomach. He groaned, winded, and hung there like a wet towel over a clothes horse.  
  
Slowly, the powerful waves subsided, and there was silence, broken only by a small groan from Duke.  
  
Kaiba unfolded from his branch and fell to the floor below in a crunch of snow.  
  
Serenity drew a hissing breath and stood up carefully, blood trickling from her legs, bare beneath her shorts.  
  
Joey ran to her and inspected the damage.  
  
'Oh, man! I told you not to wear your shorts up here in the cold!' he said.  
  
But she insisted she was Ok, so they both ran over to see how Duke was.  
  
He wasn't so good.  
  
He knelt on the floor, clutching his shoulder. He was clearly in pain.  
  
Tristan (surprise) and Yami helped him to the chopper, where he remained, paler than the snow.  
  
No one but Mokuba went to Kaiba's aid.  
  
'Seto? Are you Ok? Do you need a doctor?' Mokuba was fussing over him as he always did.  
  
'I'm Ok, Mokuba.' Gasped Kaiba, standing up briskly, 'Just a little winded. I'm going to have one heck of a bruise.'  
  
Xatrina had been with Bakura all this time, trying to revive him.  
  
The group crowded round.  
  
Finally, Bakura coughed and opened his eyes blearily.  
  
'Please.' He begged again, pathetically, unaware of the devastation he had just caused, 'Go back. You don't deserve to be victims.'  
  
'We won't be.' Soothed Trina, 'If it takes us our whole lives, we'll help you.'  
  
'But, the fate of the world? The evil? Surely you have other things on-'  
  
'That's Yami's task, and the other guys'.' Said Xatrina, 'but my task will be to help you fight this evil, to stop the magic of the millennium ring, to get your life back.'  
  
Bakura was suddenly overcome. He let out a sob, and Xatrina hugged him tightly. He didn't shove her away this time.  
  
In the silence that followed, he was conversing animatedly in his head.  
  
'So they do care. You were wrong.'  
  
'So were you.'  
  
'She's going to help me get back my life.'  
  
'In doing so, she will be taking mine away! This, I cannot allow.' 


	10. Forever

Forever.  
  
# Joey: So what was this about a new plotline? Yami: And my personality? CW: I think this story is just about long enough, actually. Yami: Well, if that's fair then Tristan wears a tutu. Joey: Oh, has he told you as well? #  
  
Duke's broken collarbone was being patched up at Domino Hospital.  
  
As for the others, Serenity's legs were bandaged to stop the bleeding, but Kaiba had refused medication, claiming the injury to his stomach was a mere bruise.  
  
Bakura had only just found out that he was responsible.  
  
'Great Scott! I'm ever so sorry!' he exclaimed. 'I told you I'm a threat.'  
  
They sat on a couch at Trina's place. They were all alone for the evening.  
  
Xatrina remembered that Vivian had told her she was going to a premiere of a movie she had done previously. Trina dreaded what she would say when she came back.  
  
They hadn't left a note or anything. But Vivian couldn't be too worried, because she had still gone.  
  
'Listen, Bakura, I want to talk with you.' Said Xatrina rising out of the seat. Bakura followed and they left the room.  
  
Once again, but not for the last time, she led them out through the kitchen doors and into the gardens.  
  
The snow was still thick. More had covered the lawn since the last time they had been here.  
  
They sat on that very same bench, in those very same places.  
  
'Bakura,' began Trina, 'I want you to tell me everything. Where you got the ring and when, how it makes you feel, how many problems it has caused,' by this, of course, she meant 'how many people it has killed', 'Just anything that's been waiting to come out.'  
  
And so Bakura launched into his tale, from when his father brought the ring back from Egypt, to just now, with the 'explosion'. He told her the ring made him feel empty, threatened. He was friendless, weak and desperate. No one cared.  
  
'You're wrong, Bakura.' Said Xatrina, 'I care. They care. We all care. They just think this battle against evil is more important.'  
  
'And isn't it?'  
  
'No.' said Xatrina softly, 'Not to me. And anyway, they'll have to destroy the spirit sooner or later. He wants the millennium items, doesn't he? And the God Cards. He could ruin the entire fight, if they don't stop it. Your problem is, you'll be fighting against yourself when the time comes for them to get rid of him. You're both good and evil in the same body.'  
  
'Then they'll have to get rid of me too.' Said Bakura, a weight squashing his heart.  
  
'No, they won't.' said Trina, 'Because he'll be long gone from your body when he is destroyed. We'll beat him together.'  
  
The weight was suddenly a feather, and Bakura blew it away with ease.  
  
He beamed at Xatrina, knowing she wouldn't let him down. Then a thought struck him.  
  
'But, you're devoting yourself to this,' he began, 'What would you want in return?'  
  
'I've already received my end of the bargain.' She said, 'All I wanted was a friend. You granted me the wish.'  
  
'But, if we're going to keep meeting up,' said Bakura, 'How are we going to keep the spirit from hurting you?'  
  
'Just get someone to lock your door from the outside at night!' laughed Trina, 'Tie yourself to the bed with something. Bet you never thought of that!'  
  
Bakura confessed that he hadn't.  
  
Trina said, 'We wouldn't have had all this trouble if you had!' (CW: But then, of course, there wouldn't be a story!)  
  
She produced a folded sheet of paper from her pocket. A printout from a digital camera.  
  
She unfolded it and held it up. It was the picture.  
  
Bakura laughed at how nervous he looked.  
  
'We look cute together, huh?' smile Trina.  
  
'Shut up!' laughed Bakura, and pushed her into the snow.  
  
This snow fight was shorter than the last.  
  
When they were tired, they wandered back to sit on the bench.  
  
Semi-consciously, Bakura slid an arm round Trina.  
  
'When your mother's movie is on at the pictures,' he began quietly, 'What do you say about coming to see it with me?'  
  
Trina nodded and smiled, then leant over and kissed him on the cheek.  
  
Bakura blushed more than ever.  
  
'Come on, let's get back.' Xatrina got up and dashed for the house.  
  
Bakura grabbed a handful of snow and chased after her, feeling more accepted than he ever had in his life. 


End file.
